Chloe has 42 oranges, 24 apples, and 18 bananas to put into fruit baskets. Each fruit will be divided equally so each basket will have the same number of oranges, the same number of apples, and the same number of bananas.
To find out how many fruit baskets Chloe can make with the given fruits, we need to find the greatest common divisor (GCD) of the numbers of each type of fruit.
First, let's find the GCD of 42, 24, and 18. One way to find the GCD is by listing the factors of each number and finding the largest common factor.
Factors of 42: 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 14, 21, 42
Factors of 24: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24
Factors of 18: 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 18
From this list, we can identify that the GCD (or the largest common factor) of 42, 24, and 18 is 6.
So, Chloe can make 6 fruit baskets, each containing an equal number of oranges, apples, and bananas.